5/29/22 - It’s a Message not a Massage - Genesis 19:30-38 - Pastor Jason Fritz

It doesn’t get much stranger than the account of Lot and his two daughters. In fact, it’s probably one of the darkest accounts in the Bible. Go ahead and read the text and then come back and you’ll quickly understand for yourself.   Lot is a complicated man. On the one hand, he is considered righteous (2 Peter 2) and on the other hand, he is a man with many faults. In this text, he is used by others, and at the same time, he is a victim of his own lifestyle and actions.    While living in Sodom, Lot’s daughters knew what wine could do to a person. Deception was practiced by everyone in the city. Lot was distressed by it, but not enough to have any kind of noticeable impact for God in his new hometown. Certainly, if he spoke against the depravity it would have been the end of his political career and to his high standing position. It seems to me that Lot was a chameleon.    Additionally, the girls learned how to look out for themselves because that’s what their father did. We saw this last week when he went so far as to offer his daughters to an angry mob in an effort to protect his interests. Now in a crazy twist of events, the girls use him to get what they want. Where do you think they learned that? Now understand that while Lot was drunk he was also responsible for what he did. He wasn’t passed out drunk. He couldn’t remember what happened in the morning but that does not excuse his participation. The Bible doesn’t forbid alcohol, however, it repeatedly warns about its abuse. This story reminds us of Noah’s alcohol-induced drama when he steps off the boat. Even after God spares these men from the worldliness around them, we find the pre-flood world is still in Noah and the city of Sodom is still in Lot. Causes us to consider what part of our old life is still in us? You can take out the trash but that doesn’t mean every fly stops buzzing around the can. There is an ongoing cleaning needed and only God can do it.   "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” David, Psalm 51:7